Hiei
Hiei (飛影, "Flying Shadow") a.k.a. Jaganshi Hiei '(Jaganshi is a title, not a surname) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. Hiei's seiyū is provided by Nobuyuki Hiyama in the original anime. Hiei's English voice actors are Chuck Huber in the Funimation dub of the television series, Kirk Thornton, in the dub of YuYu Hakusho: The Movie, and James Stanley in the second movie, YuYu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report.''Wikipedia.Org List of YuYu Hakusho characters, Hiei He is called "Hiei of the Evil Eye" in the Viz manga. Appearance Hiei is one of the shortest characters, at only 4 feet 10 inches, not including his hair. He wears a white headband that conceals his Jagan Eye, which is placed on his forehead and has a purple iris. His eyes are reddish in tint, very large and slightly slanted, giving him in the begining of the series a very sinister look. He normally wears a black cloak-like jacket and pants, with a black (and on occasion blue) undershirt. His hair is black with a blue tint, and usually spiked with white highlights on the front. Hiei wields a sword, which he can use both as a combat weapon and as a way to safely channel the dark flames from the underworld which he rarely uses as he finds it "barbaric". On top of a very well muscled frame he has high speed, accuracy and precision. Personality '''Hiei is a male fire demon born to a race of female ice demons. His mother, Hina, is forced to abandon him because koorime prohibit male children. Hiei is taken in by a group of thieves, and he learns to kill at a very young age. Throughout his childhood, his one shred of sanity is a necklace made from his mother's hiruiseki (氷涙石, ice tear stone). He eventually loses the necklace in the heat of battle. In order to find the lost hirui, Hiei acquires the Jagan. He uses the Jagan to seek out the place of his birth and learns that his grief-stricken mother committed suicide; Hiei also learns that he has a twin sister, Yukina, who has disappeared from the village. He now has another goal, to search for Yukina. Hiei is aloof, elusive, and misanthropic, often belittling and mocking humans and their emotions.Although relatively taciturn, he occasionally squabbles with and insults his teammates, especially Kuwabara but deep down he holds a certain amount of respect for him and vice versa. In fact, Hiei respects all his teammates, but seems to be closest to Kurama and Yusuke. Hiei prefers to work on his own agenda, and has a notorious reputation in Demon World as a killer even when he was a D Class demon. Despite this, deep down he is a loner that wants true friendship and companionship; and is very honorable, always keeping his word. Character Relationships *Yusuke - Rival/Ally *Kuwabara - Ally *Kurama - Major Ally *Yukina - Twin Sister *Hina - Mother History Hiei is known as Imiko" ("cursed child"), because he is a male fire demon born to a kōrime" ("ice maiden"), an all-female race. He was born male because his mother "interacted" with a male fire demon outside her isolationist Kōrime community, which led to him being cast out as an infant and thrown over the mountain in which he was born. After surviving his fall down, he was found and raised by a gang of bandits, but it didn't last long. After realizing the value of the Tear Stone shed by his mother at his birth, he wore the Stone in full view of everyone, hoping to attract enemies to kill. As he grew older, he killed mostly for fun, causing those that survived to greatly fear and reject him. After he was rejected, he continued to wear his stone in full view, yet gathered an attachment to it, as it gave him a sense of calmness. Nonetheless, he lost it when he fought a demon, and he vowed to thenceforth search for it. Later, Hiei received the Jagan implant from Shigure, the demon surgeon, in return for telling him the story of his life up to that point in time. Though warned that the surgery would drain Hiei of all his (former) strength and that it would be incredibly painful, Hiei undertook it anyway. Afterwards, he chose to accept Shigure's lessons in the art of swordsmanship in order to survive. He did so because his original level of power, that of an A-Class demon, was reduced to that of a lower D-Class. During his stay and training with the demon surgeon, Hiei decided to use his implant for what he originally wanted it for - to find the ice village that he was cast from as a child. He also wished to find the special jewel that he had lost in a battle with another demon, the very same one created from his mother's tears when he was a baby. He set out on his journey and found his way back to the Glacial Village where he was originally born in a matter of days. Once there, he decided to find his mother, Hina, but would find her friend, Rui, the woman who was forced to cast him off the village and into a river below. From her, he found out that his mother had died years ago, having committed suicide due to the depression of losing her son and witnessing his "death". Hiei learns from Rui of the existence of his twin sister, Yukina, who left the village without explanation a few years before. However, she also told Hiei that it was assumed by herself, and her fellow villagers, that Yukina's reasons for leaving were more than likely due to discovering that she had a twin brother, and decided to seek him out. After she finished answering his questions, he simply turned to leave without another word. However, before he did, she quickly realized Hiei's identity as Hina's son, and begs him to kill her then and there for her part in his fate. After appearing to think it over, he refused and continued to walk away. On his way back to Shigure, Hiei decides from then on to use his Jagan to watch over his sister, rather than finding his jewel. So it was, that upon his final departure from the demon surgeon, he decided to pay Shigure for his services as a swords-teacher. As payment for his teachings, Shigure has Hiei swear an oath never to tell Yukina that he is her brother. Hiei accepts the terms, and states that he never planned to tell Yukina. After that moment, Hiei traveled everywhere, intent on finding his sister, Yukina. His search eventually took him to the Human Realm, and it was during this time that he first met the human form of Yoko Kurama, Shuichi Minamino. Hiei met Kurama one year before when they defeated the demon Eight Hands. This took him from his quest, briefly in the form of planned robbery of the Spirit World's artifact vault. Together with another demon named Gouki, the three stole three dangerous weapons from the Reikai (霊界, lit. Spirit World), and became the targets of Yusuke Urameshi's first case. Synopsis Spirit Detective Saga After Yusuke claims two of the three items stolen from spirit world, he senses Hiei's energy and quickly races after it with Botan. However, Hiei has already captured Keiko, and is leading them to his lair. Yusuke and Botan arrive and are confronted by Hiei's mind-controlled slaves. They prove no match for the spirit detective, and he quickly gets Keiko back. However, she has already been cut by Hiei's item, and is turning into a demon.Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 23 Yusuke fights Hiei while Botan holds off Keiko's transformation. Hiei surprisingly lacks in the fight, being caught off guard by Yusuke's impressive counter attacks. Revealing his Jagan's true form, he becomes a monstrous creature, and Keiko's transformation quickens. Hiei decides instead of killing Yusuke, he would turn him into a demon. He prepares to plunge the sword in Yusuke, but the blade is intercepted by Kurama. Kurama uses his blood to blind Hiei's Jagan eye, crippling his powers. However, Hiei is still too fast for Yusuke, and overpowers him. Yusuke attempts a spirit gun, but Hiei dodges. The blast bounces off the Forlorn Hope mirror, and hits Hiei in the back, knocking him unconscious. Later, he shows up to fight the Four Saint Beasts with Yusuke and Kuwabara. After Kuwabara and Kurama finish their battles, Hiei faces the second most powerful beast, Seiryu. He is seemingly overpowered by his opponent's ice powers, but breaks free and kills him (in the manga the battle is much shorter, with Seiryu falling to pieces right after the battle begins) When Hiei hears word from Spirit World that his long lost sister, Yukina, is being held captive by a human, he quickly races to save her. When he finally catches up to the human responsible, he proceeds to pound the man into oblivion. A tearful Yukina grabs his arm, begging him to spare the man's life. Hiei agrees, saying that he won't make the girl cry because the man is too worthless (besides, killing a human would had been a violation of his parole). Yukina asks Hiei who he is, he replies that he's a friend of "theirs", meaning Yusuke and friends. Kurama (who arrived to make sure Hiei didn't kill the man, as it would have affected his own parole status, as well), asks Hiei why he didn't tell her he was her brother, to which Hiei simply replies that Yukina will be happier not knowing. Kurama, Botan, Yusuke, Shizuru, and Koenma are the only ones who know the truth. Dark Tournament During the Dark Tournament, Hiei was able to master the Dragon of the Darkness Flame in order to win his match against Zeru in the first round. However, because it was his first time using this attack, it crippled his arm. This was a feat on its own, as anyone else attempting this would have had their arm blown off after using it. Because of this, he only got to fight in four matches during the entire Tournament. During the Tournament's third round, he was tricked and captured in a force-field of an experienced demon force-field maker named Ruka and was thus unable to participate in that round. However, this ambush worked against the demon ninjas, because the field had an unusual effect on Hiei's arm; restoring it to full capacity. Later, he masters the technique by consuming it and is able to use it against Bui of Team Toguro in the last round and beat him, wrecking half the stadium in the process. It was also revealed during the Dark Tournament that Hiei's name means 'flying shadow', which is fitting given the incredible speed that he's displayed whenever he fights. Even though Hiei only fought in 4 rounds he won all his matchs. Chapter Black Saga During the Chapter Black arc, Hiei did not want to join the group in their mission against Shinobu Sensui at first because he felt it did not involve him in any way. Later, after saving Yusuke from Sensui's follower Sniper (Kaname Hagiri), Hiei fought against Yusuke again in order to help calm him down, since Yusuke was in a rage over Sensui kidnapping Kuwabara. Afterwards, Yusuke bribed Hiei with the Chapter Black tape, a VHS tape said to contain all of the crimes mankind has ever done onto itself and others on record, in exchange for helping to defeat Sensui. He joins up with the others to fight against Sensui and is eventually trapped in another dimension with Kuwabara and Kurama, forced to watch Yusuke fight Sensui. However, his newfound powers which was equal to that of lower A-class demon that he gained over Yusuke's death weren't able to match up against Sensui's S- class Sacred Energy. Hiei's energy, along with Kurama and Kuwabara's rose all the way up to a mid A-class after Yusuke was resurrected. Hiei managed to gain possession of the Chapter Black Tape in the end, but destroyed it without ever watching it. Three Kings Saga During the Three Kings arc, Hiei is invited by Mukuro to travel to her territory and become a part of her army. For six months Mukuro put Hiei on a survival test; being forced to fight over five hundred A-Class demons. Hiei's demon energy then rose up to low S-Class. He then faced off against Shigure, the one who implanted him with his Jagan. Hiei was able to defeat Shigure, but lost part of his forearm which was cut off and also ended up being mortally wounded in the process (in the manga, he was literally cut in half at the waist). Afterwards, per Mukuro's wishes, his arm was restored and he was healed, and Hiei continued to train under her. It is here, that it is discovered that Mukuro held Hiei's Tear Stone, and the Tear Stone was returned to him. He then continued to train under Mukuro. When Raizen died, Hiei traveled to Yomi's territory to meet up with Yusuke. It was here that Yusuke announced his decision to hold a tournament to determine Demon World's new ruler, rather than to have individual territories. Hiei entered and was among one of the many competitors. Hiei was able to make it through the preliminaries and first round. He was then forced to fight Mukuro. Even though Hiei's demon energy was equal to that of a mid-S-class demon, it was still not enough to match up against Mukuro's upper S-class demon energy. He lost to her in his final round, but still achieved his true goal: to rid Mukuro of her shackles, the symbol binding her to her dark past. In the final episode, Hiei chose to remain in the Demon Realm, and took up the task of escorting humans who have accidentally wandered into the Demon Realm back to the Human Realm, as well as erasing their memories with his Jagan Eye. In chapter 172 of the manga, where Mukuro's past is revealed (only alluded to in the anime), Hiei fuses Mukuro's cruel father with a plant that automatically heals wounds, allowing Mukuro to torture her father as much as she wants, allowing her to get revenge. His last words, as he leaves, are "Happy Birthday". In the OVA, Hiei is seen with Kurama, Yusuke, and strangely Kuwabara, entering the next Demon World Tournament. Techniques/Moves *'Extreme Speed: '''Hiei is one of the fastest characters in the Yu Yu Hakusho universe, being able to slice an opponent sixteen times in a blink of an eye. This has caused some to mistakenly believe he can teleport, when in fact he is just running very quickly. *'Jagan Eye''' (邪眼, Ja Gan, translated as Evil Eye): With his surgically-implanted third eye, thanks to the demonic osteopath Shigure, Hiei can display psychic abilities. Whether it's telekinesis, remote-viewing, memory-erasure, control both weaker demons and humans, Hiei's abilities with this eye are formidable. It's been noticed that whenever he uses any of his flame techniques, the Jagan opens. This suggests a need to use this implant as a way to bridge his nature, as a fire demon, with his blood from a Koorime. :*'Jaganshi Form': The Jagan also allows Hiei to transform into something called the Jaganshi (邪眼師, literally translated as Evil Eye Practitioner) form. In this state, his skin turns green and eyes sprout all over his body. In this form, the power of his Jagan is greatly increased, enhancing his already-great speed, allowing him to blind his foes with a curse, and summon multiple dragons. Its weakness is that, if anything blinds the Jagan while Hiei is in this form, he will be completely blind. Hiei never assumes this form after his initial fight with Yusuke and only once during the Second Movie, but occasionally references are made to it. Kurama mistakenly referred to this as Hiei's "true form". *'Dragon of the Darkness Flame' (邪王炎殺黒龍波, Jaō Ensatsu Kokuryūha, translated as Tyrant-King's Blaze-Murdering Black-Dragon-Wave; VIZ translation, Black Dragon Hellfire): Hiei uses his demon energy to lure the flames of Demon World and creating a dragon from them. The dragon cannot be controlled, unless the user is capable of absorbing it. Initially, it damaged his arm horribly, but Hiei has surpassed that by discovering that in order to completely control the dragon's power, and have its power at his full disposal, he had to trap it within his own being. Because it composed entirely of black, demonic flames, it completely consumes all it devours. Essentially, it sends its targets to oblivion as a result. :*'Dragon Absorption': When he turns the dragon on himself, Hiei gains a massive boost in power, defense, and speed. Kurama says that in order to do this, Hiei had to have had consumed and trapped the dragon within him, binding it to his will. When he first used this technique against Bui, he demonstrated an inability to feel pain, but this may have only been because it was the first time that he had ever used this technique in such a way, which may be confirmed by the fact that Hiei felt pain after using this technique during his fight with Sensui in Demon World and getting pummeled for his efforts. :*'Black Dragon Wave': In his Jaganshi form, Hiei is able to release multiple dragons, which results in massive amounts of destruction. It is unknown if this technique was ever mastered. Hiei might have mastered this attack after he achieved S-class. In this form, he appears to have gained better control over the dragon, given how he can now actually control who the dragons attack. His first and last time using this move was in the second movie against the Netherworld God known as Raigō. This is arguably Hiei's most powerful attack. :*Only Bui and Mukuro, and, to a lesser extent, Yakumo (who merely survived it), have been seen to be able to repel this creature. Mukuro managed to split the creature in half entirely; however, the attack wasn't meant to kill her in that instance. Sensui, using his Sacred Energy, was able to repel the Dragon long enough for him to reach the safety of the Barrier between the Demon World and Human World. The two of them hit the kekkai barrier net in the Psuedo-Space, between Human and Demon World, and the Dragon burned out upon impacting the net. :*This technique appears to have been an infamous one, given how Koenma mentions that his father, the Great King Yama, had told him about it and that he hadn't thought anyone could actually use this technique. This infamous reputation is only reinforced when Hiei mentions how countless masters, over the centuries, had attemped to harness the power of the black dragon. None of them had succeeded. :*Curiously, in the original Japanese, it is only when Hiei used this technique on Mukuro that he uses its full name. To all other opponents, he only used Ensatsu Kokuryūha (炎殺黒龍波, literally translated as Blaze-Murdering Black-Dragon-Wave) while using it. :*There is a drawback, however, in that this technique uses so much power and stamina that Hiei must sleep for a while, at some point, after using it. *'Fist of the Mortal Flame' (邪王炎殺煉獄焦, Jaō Ensatsu Rengoku Shō, translated as Tyrant-King's Blaze-Murdering Purgatory Scorch; VIZ translation, Purgatory Scorch): Hiei can channel the less-powerful flames of Human World into one or both of his hands. He uses this technique to enhance his hand-to-hand combat abilities, it is hot and strong enough to incinerate Bui's axe. :*'Flamethrower': This can also be used as a flamethrower to create a ranged attack. It is used on Bui, but it is proved ineffective. Strangely Hiei uses this technique in the final opening, while Kurama and Kuwabara use their most powerful techniques (Yoko Kurama and Dimension Blade respectively). *'Sword of the Darkness Flame' (邪王炎殺剣, Jaō Ensatsu Ken, translated as Tyrant-King's Blaze-Murdering Sword, VIZ translation, Blazing Sword): Rather than sustain the damage Hiei did to his arm after using the Dragon the first time, he instead channeled the flames of the Dragon into his sword. He's only used this technique as a last resort, and only twice in the entire series, apparently because he finds it cowardly to limit such great power in the form of a sword and also completely devoid of any taste or artistry, because of the concept's association with Kuwabara. He successfully used it against Kuro Momotaro when Kuro Momotaro was in his third form. He used this again in two different ways when fighting Sensui in Demon World, but it was ineffective. In that fight, Hiei first channeled the flames of the Dragon into his sword. In the second try, Hiei just made a sword out of the flames. 'Trivia' *Hiei makes an appearance as a stuff toy at the 10th volume of Yoshihiro Togashi's another manga,HunterxHunter. *Chuck Huber, The English voice actor for Hiei, once participated Lanipator's Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged Movie as Raigo. When asked by a fan at an anime convention about his experience, he said it "was a little fun thing to do". References Category:Characters